


Three AM

by secretsofthesky



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Abuse, Anger, Bruises, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Tagging, Pregnancy, Worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-10 19:36:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15956093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secretsofthesky/pseuds/secretsofthesky
Summary: Hospital waiting room in the early hours of the morning: A pregnant Betty, with a black eye and other questionable injuries, sits in the hospital ER waiting room at 3am, across from Jughead who just brought his dad in after a bad drunken bar fight.





	Three AM

* * *

_ 5.) Hospital waiting room in the early hours of the morning: A pregnant Betty, with a black eye and other questionable injuries, sits in the hospital ER waiting room at 3am, across from Jughead who just brought his dad in after a bad drunken bar fight. _

* * *

 

It took him a while to place where he knew her from, trying not to stare as he sat across from her and watched her fidget with her hands as medical staff passed and patients waiting to be seen came and went. After a nurse came out to let him know they were done stitching his father up but wanted to keep him under observation for a bit longer, she had looked up and her haunted green eyes met the dark blue of his. The memory suddenly pushed through the darkness in his mind, the glowing image of a pretty blonde girl who worked on the paper at school forcing his shadows to shrink away and hide. Kind green eyes and a soft voice, the girl who had a smile for everyone, even him occasionally, the boy from the Southside that everyone else looked down upon. 

 

Yeah, he remembered her, and his gut clenched as he took in the stark differences in her appearance now compared to the girl he knew then. Sure, it had been a half a decade since they’d graduated and he’d seen her, and anyone would change in that many years; he definitely had, it was normal. 

 

Time didn’t cause purple and black to appear around your eyes though, badly covered by too much concealer in an effort to disguise the discoloration. Time didn’t rip away the glow of happiness and replace it with a resigned sadness that had a mouth, that was once the giver of warm smiles, to look as if it hadn’t smiled at all in far too long. Time didn’t cause red welts around your wrists, or for a person to wince and cower every time someone yelled or slammed the Emergency Department door.   

 

No, time didn’t do this to her. A disgusting human did.

 

Jughead closed his eyes tight, fists clenched as he sat there, wanting to plow through the doors and hunt down the man he had seen sitting with her when he had brought his father in, the man’s knuckles wrapped in gauze as the nurse calling him back.

 

He was certain he now knew how he had hurt his hand, and sickness filled him as he wondered if there were parts of her body, places covered so no one could see, that held even worse injuries.  

 

Yet here she sat, as if she was okay. Blonde hair pulled back in a low ponytail, long sleeves despite the hot summer night outside, purse sitting on her lap, one hand gripping the handles, her other hand laying on her stomach.

 

Her very pregnant stomach.

 

Jughead looked at her face again and found her eyes on him. He didn’t look away, instead he watched her study his face, eyebrows furrowing as she now tried to place him, and then he saw it dawn on her, and the humiliation of her situation causing her cheeks to redden as she quickly looked away.

 

He was never one to get involved in other people's issues. God knew he had his hands full with his own. 

 

But sitting there, looking at this broken woman before him, the urge to save her consumed him. 

 

“Betty.” Her name was leaving his lips before he even gave it a second thought. He watched as her eyes flew to his, clearly startled that he had addressed her. He watched it happen, a practiced small smile made its way to her lips as she attempted to conceal that anything was wrong.

 

He wondered how many people she knew believed this facade, wondered how they could, how it wasnt so completely obvious that she was being abused, and his anger grew. 

 

“Hello. Jughead Jones?” her voice was quiet, but not the shy, kind quiet that he remembered. This was the voice of fear, of a woman that even though her abuser was rooms away, still worried that he would hear her talking to someone else.

 

He knew this voice, because his mother spoke the same way in the months before she had taken his baby sister and left him and his father behind. No, his father had never laid a hand on his mother, but he was controlling, both emotionally and mentally abusive. Without the fear of his father retaliating in a physical manner, his mother was able to find the strength to leave. Betty though, with her cowering at any loud noise, was definitely worse off.

 

He only nodded when she said his name, and then as she started to ask how he’d been, he cut her off quietly, his eyes letting her know he wasn’t fooled by her facade, and he wasn’t going to participate in casual chit chat as if nothing was wrong.

 

He was too young to help his mom escape from his father, having to allow her to carry the burden on her own. 

 

But he wasn’t a defenseless little boy anymore.

 

“They’ll help you.” he said quietly, and she only acted confused for a moment before the tears that instantly filled her eyes no longer allowed her act to continue.

 

She was quiet for a few long moments, biting her lip to hold back the tears as she looked away, studying everyone around them before lowering her eyes to the hand that was covering her swollen stomach. “I know. But he’ll still find me.”

 

Jughead grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. Surrounded by drunks and addicts who had ruined their lives and were left destroyed. Yet even being surrounded by people consumed with demons his entire life, he’d never heard a person sound more broken than he did in that moment.

 

“He won’t.” He promised her. “If you go up and tell one of the nurses you’re in danger, they will call security and get you help.”

 

Betty instantly shook her head, tears falling down her cheeks even as she stared in fear at the door that led to the patient rooms. 

 

“He’ll still find me. I’ll never get away.” she protested in a whisper, her cheeks red from embarrassment, her eyes closing in defeat. “I’ve tried. I’ve tried  _ so  _ many times. I had to stop.”

 

Jughead gripped the seat of the chair underneath him until his knuckles turned white. “Why?” he asked, though he already knew the answer.

 

She shook her head, a smile that held no happiness making its way to her lips as she met his eyes. “Because it’s not just my life i’m risking when I try to leave anymore.”

 

Jughead’s eyes moved to her stomach. He didn’t know much about pregnancy, but from her size, he assumed she was close to her due date. Fear filled him at the thought of the monster she was with now having two people to hurt, and using the child to hurt and control her even more.

 

A darkness filled him then, a darkness he had spent his life refusing to allow to consume him. A darkness that threatened to turn him into his father, someone who he had sworn as a child he would never become. 

 

“Please don’t pity me.” Her quiet voice had his eyes raising from her stomach to her face. “I wasn’t always like this.”

 

Jughead shook his head. “Like what?”

 

Betty wiped furiously at her tear stained cheeks. “Pathetic. Weak.” she took a deep breath. “Scared.”

 

Having FP Jones for a father had caused him to experience and witness many messed up things in his life, but nothing had impacted him as much as seeing this helpless woman in front of him, so sure she had no option but to stay living in a nightmare.

 

And it only spurred him to make her realize her future was not set in stone.

 

“They’re backed up right now,” he told her, motioning to the nurses and doctors rushing about and the full waiting room around them. “He'll be back there for a while yet.”

 

Betty glanced at the door again, as if contemplating if what he said was true. 

 

“And you’re right. If you asked for help, if they called for security, they would have you file a report and would arrest him and take him out.” He knew it would give the man a chance to see her, to guilt trip her into thinking she did something wrong, or threaten her to come bail him out. He’d seen it countless times in the trailer park growing up. The only real way out was to make a clean getaway, without all the mess. Like his mother had, even though it meant not taking him with her. “There will be a court day, you’d have to see him, maybe testify. It would be drawn out and even if you were granted a restraining order, a piece of paper doesn't do much.” 

 

He watched as she swallowed, knowing his words were scaring her even more and hating it. 

 

“It would be a big thing, I understand why that makes you scared.” He leaned forward, lowering his voice. “So your only options are to wait and go back home with him, and live in fear that one day he’ll turn his attention on that life growing inside of you instead...”

 

He could hear her breathing turn shallow as he trailed off. “Or?”

 

He heard the small hopeful note in her voice, a hope that he could tell she rarely let herself feel. “Or you can leave now. Give yourself a big head start. He’ll come out and have no clue where you went. Have no clue where to even start looking probably. He won’t expect it alt all, will he?”

 

Betty’s eyes widened as she absorbed his words and hope filled him at the idea that she was contemplating it. 

 

“You’ll probably even have time to go home, grab whatever things are important to you real quick, before leaving town.”

 

Betty shook her head instantly. “The only thing that is important to me is right here.” she said, her fingers splaying across her stomach. “And he took the keys with him. I have no car. He’s made sure I have nothing.”

 

Her words held so much defeat that he found himself offering to dive in even deeper. “You have me. I’ll take you.” His words shocked her, though he knew no one was more shocked than himself in that moment. “You have no reason to trust me,” he told her quickly. “And I know it’s probably hard for you to trust anyone really, especially a man. But I can help you.”

 

Betty bit her lip, eyes continuously flashing to the door as if expecting the monster to come through it at any moment. 

 

“My mother was once in a situation she needed out of, and I know she would have escaped it much sooner but having us kids… it delayed it.” he glanced to her stomach. “It gets harder when you have children you’re trying to protect, too.” His throat began to close as he himself started to worry about their time running out. Not that he was scared of a pathetic man who abused pregnant women. No, not at all. He was scared about what he would do to him if he came face to face with him, and that it would cause her to miss this chance at escaping. 

 

“Why are you trying to help me?” her voice cracked, fresh tears falling.

 

Jughead brought his blue eyes to hers. “Because you need someone.” he told her honestly, “And because I couldn’t help  _ her _ . But I can help  _ you _ now.”

 

Betty shook her head, looking as if she were fighting a battle with herself. “Your father…”

 

“He can walk home,” Jughead told her. “It’ll sober him up. This isn’t our first rodeo.”

 

_ Please, let me help you. _

 

A few minutes passed in silence as Jughead waited, his heart racing as she watched the clock tick away, every second adding to his own fear. 

 

“I have nowhere to go.” 

 

Jughead let out a breath of relief, realizing she was contemplating his offer. 

 

“My mother lives in Toledo.” He instantly replied, knowing his mom wouldn't even question it if he showed up on her doorstep with Betty. His mother could read people just as well as he could, and one look at the girl would have her ushering her in and making her a bed. “I know she would help you.”

 

Betty shook her head, as if not believe it was possible. He knew she was probably going over everything that could go wrong, and the consequences if they did. 

 

“I know you have no reason to trust me,” he stood, grabbing the keys from his pocket. “But i’m going to walk out and pull my car up. In a couple minutes, if you get up and mention that you need some fresh air and walk outside, I’ll be waiting.”

 

With one last look, he turned away, eyeing the door leading to the back rooms as he went, saying a silent prayer that they weren’t out of time, and that she took his offer. 

 

He wasn’t sure he could sit and watch her leave with the man she came with, knowing what she would be going home to. 

 

A minute passed as he sat in his car, watching the doors. 

 

Two minutes.

 

Three.

 

She wasn’t going to come. His heart dropped, his stomach sick. He couldn’t blame her. He knew all too well the mental abuse that caused even the strongest woman to live in fear. 

 

He waited one more minute before putting the car in drive again, planning to take it back and park it again and sit and wait for his father, unable to go back in and watch helplessly as she left him him. Not knowing if he would be capable of letting her do so and knowing it would just make things worse for her in the long run if he couldn’t.

 

“Fuck,” he cursed to himself, gripping the wheel as he turned to leave the pick up area. 

 

The doors sliding open had him looking back at the hospital though, and he was instantly filled with elation as a blonde head appeared, scared eyes searching from left to right until they landed on him. He learned over quickly, opening the passenger door and she approached the car, as fast as her pregnant body would allow, hesitating a moment before sliding into the seat next to him, not saying anything as she put on her seatbelt or as he pulled out of the hospital parking area and turned down the road. 

 

They sat in silence until they were a handful of miles away, the city lights fading away as they turned onto a long county road that would lead to the highway that would take them far away from Riverdale. 

 

She started crying when they passed the sign letting them know they were leaving town, heart wrenching sobs that had him looking at her worriedly every couple moments as he struggled between keeping his eyes on the road and stopping to try and console her. 

 

When they finally subsided, she looked up, and a ghost of the smile that he remembered her sporting all those years ago was touching her lips. 

 

“Jughead Jones,” she whispered, staring at him with a look that nearly brought him to his knees. No one had ever looked at him like that before. As if he were something special. “Thank you for saving me.”

 

For the first time in his life, he felt his throat tighten with tears and the unexpected emotion shocked him into silence for a few moments before he cleared his throat. “Thank you for letting me, Betty Cooper.”

 

And that's all they said, the rest of the drive spent in comfortable silence, as they made their way to Toledo. 

 

Neither of them thinking their lives would ever entwine again, but both so very thankful they had. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading <3  
> Find me on tumblr: [secretsofthesky](http://www.secretsofthesky.tumblr.com)


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